Viral metagenomic sequencing in the diagnosis of meningoencephalitis : a review of technical advances and diagnostic yield

INTRODUCTION: Meningoencephalitis patients are often severely impaired and benefit from early etiological diagnosis, though many cases remain without identified cause. Metagenomics as pathogen agnostic approach can result in additional etiological findings; however, the exact diagnostic yield when used as a secondary test remains unknown.

AREAS COVERED: This review aims to highlight recent advances with regard to wet and dry lab methodologies of metagenomic testing and technical milestones that have been achieved. A selection of procedures currently applied in accredited diagnostic laboratories is described in more detail to illustrate best practices. Furthermore, a meta-analysis was performed to assess the additional diagnostic yield utilizing metagenomic sequencing in meningoencephalitis patients. Finally, the remaining challenges for successful widespread implementation of metagenomic sequencing for the diagnosis of meningoencephalitis are addressed in a future perspective.

EXPERT OPINION: The last decade has shown major advances in technical possibilities for using mNGS in diagnostic settings including cloud-based analysis. An additional advance may be the current established infrastructure of platforms for bioinformatic analysis of SARS-CoV-2, which may assist to pave the way for global use of clinical metagenomics.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:21

Enthalten in:

Expert review of molecular diagnostics - 21(2021), 11 vom: 05. Nov., Seite 1139-1146

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Carbo, Ellen C [VerfasserIn]
Blankenspoor, Ivar [VerfasserIn]
Goeman, Jelle J [VerfasserIn]
Kroes, Aloys C M [VerfasserIn]
Claas, Eric C J [VerfasserIn]
De Vries, Jutte J C [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Diagnosis
Journal Article
Meningoencephalitis
Metagenomic sequencing
Review
Viral infection

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 03.12.2021

Date Revised 14.12.2021

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1080/14737159.2021.1985467

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM331487780